Nikon has seen the future, and it is mirrorless. There can no longer be any doubt that the stunning success of the Nikon Z9 has not only drastically improved the company's fortunes but has also led to a complete turnaround in the direction in which it intends to take its camera line. The proof can be seen in the Medium-Term Management Plan released yesterday.
As one scrolls down the PDF to "Product Strategy" one finds the entire section is given over the Z9. And that's entirely understandable appreciation for the "Top selling professional flagship full-frame mirrorless camera in the first quarter of 2022 in the USA." Sparing no superlative in its description, Nikon best expresses its hopes for the future with the single word "Unstoppable."
But far more interesting is the "Imaging Products: Earnings Plan" a bit further down. The two Revenue graphs placed side by side provide a fascinating glimpse into Nikon's plans for the future. While in FY 2021 the Z line accounted for only about half the company's revenue of 178.2B yen, it is projected that by 2025 it will account for well more than 80% of estimated revenue of 200B yen. That increase is expected to come almost entirely at the expense of the company's F mount DSLR's whose overall share will shrink to less than 5%. In other words, the company that made its fortune in the 1960's with the legendary Nikon F is some 60 years later almost entirely abandoning that format in belated acknowledgement that it is the mirrorless camera that is best suited to today's digital photography. It's a truly revolutionary move for so long established a company as Nikon.
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